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Of their 10 seven-game segments this season, the Calgary Flames have won at least four games on eight occasions.

Yet, they were still on the outside of a playoff spot prior to Wednesday's NHL action.

Even still, amidst the aftermath of the Flames' 4-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, the message from head coach Bob Hartley is to remain on track with their focus.

"Those seven-game segments kept us in a battle for a playoff spot throughout the season. We have 12 games left, so one segment of seven and one segment of five. We're gonna stay the course," Hartley said.

"We're starting another and let's shoot for another nine, 10 points out of that segment and see where it takes us."

The final full seven-game set begins with Thursday's home clash with the Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m., Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan) and the Flames may need more than just four victories during the series.

In fact, a case can be made they need four wins to close out their homestand, all that are left, which also includes visits by the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars.

Along with that quartet of tilts comes a common theme, all of them are essentially done and dusted as far as their playoff shot, or -- at best -- clinging to a faint hope.

The logic for needing a clean sweep over the remainder of the homestand is twofold: Not only to stay in a playoff spot but also to make hay against clubs destined to partake in the draft lottery.

"Even though they're out of the playoffs, it's going to be tough games," warned centre Mikael Backlund. "We know ourselves from last year and the year before we weren't going to lay down and give up and give teams two points. The teams out of playoffs are going to try to win every game."

(By the way, their next road game is at the Minnesota Wild, one of the clubs they must try to rein in to be a playoff club, so that's the next massive four-pointer on the docket.)

It's a big-picture view of the situation, something players are loathe to do.

"All you can do is win as many games as you can until the end," goalie Jonas Hiller said. "I think that has to be the goal, no matter if you look at the standings or not. We know if you want to have a chance to be in, we have to win our fair share.

"I don't think the answer is looking at the standings every day and worrying about it. We have to come and be ready to play."

As much as Hartley's best-of-seven breakdown has been to keep his team focussed as much as possible on one game at a time, it begs the question whether it's possible.

After all, with a dozen games remaining on the schedule and the standings seemingly changing on a nightly basis, it must be hard to keep such a single mindset.

"It's probably easier said than done," Backlund admitted. "It's a mental challenge but something we have to find a way to do, focus on one game.

"It's easy to start thinking, 'Down the road, what's it gonna look like?' but we've got to try and stay in the moment."

Ice chips

The Flames summoned C Markus Granlund from the AHL Adirondack Flames on Wednesday. Granlund has skated in 37 NHL games this season and collected five goals and 13 points "¦ G Jon Gillies, the 2012 third-round draft choice playing at Providence College, has been named the Hockey East top goaltender. In conference play this season, the 21-year-old posted a 1.74 goals-against average and .939 save percentage while compiling a 12-8-1 record.